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16 September 1975

‘MEMORANDUM FOR: C/LA/COG

SUBJECT : Letter from Mrs. Lourdes CUESTA, Ex-wife of
Antonio CUESTA Valle, Formerty of Interest to
JMWAVE Station

1. Lourdes CUESTA, ex-wife of Antonio CURSTA Valle, currently
imprisoned in Cuba, wrote to the Director of CIA on 4 August 1975.
She requested that the Agency “give her some kind of verification
that her ex-husband was not connected nor the CIA had any knowledge
that he was preparing the raids mentioned in Attempts No, 21 and 22"
cited in a 31 July 1975 Miami. Herald newspaper article following
Senator McGovern's recent trip to visit Fidel CASTRO. :

. 2. A carefully worded reply was prepared for signature by an -
assistant to the DCI; however, per instruction of the DC/LAD (from
the DDO) it was requested that the letter not be sent, but rather
that a DCD representative in Miami handle the matter with Mrs.
CUESTA personally.

- 3, g DCD representative in Miami contacted Mrs. CUESTA and
told her that the Agency preferred that the matter be handled with
a personal touch rather than by letter. Mrs, CUESTA did not accept
this and has subsequently phoned the DCD representative several
‘times requesting .a written reply. Mrs. CUESTA said that she plans
to send a copy of the reply to Fidel CASTRO and one to Senator
McGovern. According to the DCD representative, Mrs. CUESTA (a nat-
uralized U.S. citizen of Spanish birth) works for a lawyer (name
unknown) and perhaps is following legal counsel, a

4. On 11 September 1975 the AC/LA/COG phoned the DC/LAD and
advised him of the foregoing. sollowing the conversation it was
decided that we would check out applicable maritime records in
Archives, in addition to CURSTA's 201 file, and if we still un-
covered no evidence that CUESTA was involved with CIA in the cited
infiltration operations, draft a very brief lotter of. acknowledge-
ment to Mrs, CUESTA and resubmit it for approval.

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. S$. Antonio CUESTA came to the U.S. from Cuba on 31 May 1960
as a refugee, According to his 201 file, he has had the following ¢
U.S. Government association: ec ;
; a. As, of February 1961 he was cited as a crewman 1 \
aboard the N/V TEJANA.. A POA was requested on 15 March ¢° ¢ ‘
1961 for his use in PM maritime ops as a-crewman on the ”
vessel TEJANA under Project JMATE. Due to cessation of  & e
JMATE activities, processing of the clearance was sus-. 4 «5 .
‘ pended on 1 May 1961 until ne. interest was apparent. ca pe ; - oe, “°
H SJMWAVE Station advised the Army of CIA operational inter- , . ‘ ‘
i est in CUESTA on 26 May 1962. JMWAVE advised Headquarters
on $ June 1962 that CUESTA was not then being used and i . \
requested the basis of other Agency interest. There is : ON
no indication in pertinent maritime files or his 201 file : A
that he was ever used on an operational mission by CIA.

i . b. . ISR. records show that CUESTA was registered «as *,
. 5) an Army source on 22 May 1962. There is no indication —
; lb yl’ that he was dropped; however, it is recorded that he was
; reinstated on 12 August 1965. He was dropped again on
' 10 May 1966, without prejudice. There is further record
of Army association. The specifics of hisy association
with the Army are unknown to the Agency. (, 4 2, .8 75 tortie’.

c?.° 6, From the time he came to the U.S. in 1960 until he was ar-
‘gested by the Cuban Government, CUESTA was associated with the MRR,
UR, Alpha.66 and Commando L organizations. The hit and run raids made
" . by these groups were well-known to all government agencies and, in
- fact, openly known in Miami because of the propensity of the Cubans
to talk. There were a number of discussions at the highest level
_ (President) concerning what should be done about such raids. They
were not sponsored by or connected with the U.S. Government. Two
of these unauthorized raids are the ones referred to (attempts 21
and 22) in the article attached to Mrs. CUESTA's letter.

. “ 9) Mrs. CUBSTA was born 21 May 1936.in Madrid, Spain. As of
20 March 1963 she was married to Antonio CUESTA, had one small son,
and reportedly resided with Antonio in Miami, Florida. She current-
ly refers to him as her ex-husband, but particulars of a separation
or divorce are unknown, She is also known as Mrs. Maria Viza CUESTA,
Maria Liisa Viza Blanco and Mrs. Vincente CIHSTA. Following are
items of interest: . ”

oo a. Antonio CURSTA told the FBI that she lived with
him in Miami, Florida as cf 30 March 1963.

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b. Mrs. CUESTA told the FI'I in 1969 that she ar-
rived in the U.S. 9 June 1965 at Miami, florida.
c. ACSI advised JMWAVE Station in November 1966 rd

that she had been in contact (date unknown) with Chafik
Homero SAKER Zenni_ of the New York Cuba Un Mission.

e was advised of this and Monitored ner activities.
{SAKER is a known long-time DGI officer PNG'd from the
U.S. in 67/68 for support to Black Panther and SDS ac-
tivities. He was DGI ‘Chief cf Center in Mexico City . a :

“€rom 70-73, one of the founding fathers of the DGI and od : _¢
the DGI expert on illegal operations against the U.S.} {

d. Mrs. CUESTA legally travelled to Cuba from
Miami, via Mexico City, in April 1967 for a two week
visit with her husbend. In June 1967 the FBI advised
“JMWAVE Station that she was recruited by the CUIS while
in Cuba and to hold this knowledge to a minimum because’
they intended to operate her as a double agent. She
said the pitch was made on behalf of the DSE and would
benefit both her and her husband. She was told if she’
successfully reported on anti-Castro activities in Miami,
especially Commanco L activities, for a period of six
months, they would release her husband from custody and
after three years of reporting permit him to leave Cuba.
Her contact in the U.S. was to be Chafik tlomero SAKER
zenni. ; ;

_-e@. Mrs. CUESTA travelled to Cuba from Miami via
Mexico City again on 9 February 1968 taking nine suit-
cases. She called Havana from Mexico City and asked to
be met at the airport in Havana by two cars because of
the excess baggage. While in Cuba she saw her husband

‘Several times. She returned to Mexico City on 4 March

; 8. This case was coordinated with the FBI representative,

via Ops Liaison, on 12 September who asked that we hold up 4 re-
sponse to her letter until he could check out the status uf the case.
ft was recognized that Mrs. CUESTA could be acting in behalf of the
DGI. On 16 September the FBI representative advised that FBI opera-
tional interest in Mrs. CUBSTA was terminated circa December 1974
and that it «ould not be necessary for us to coordinate our response
ta Mrs, CUESTA's letter with the Bureau. Details of the FBI opera~
tiosal handling of Mrs. CUESTA are unknown. The FBI representative

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advised that Mrs. CUESTA had inquired what it would cost to obtain

documents in the FBI files on her under the FOIA.

9. Attempts are being made to obtain the name of the attorney

“for whom Mrs. CUESTA works.

10. Attached is a suggested reply to Nrs. CUESTA, based on
the facts in para S a, for approval.

Chris ‘Hopkins
LA/COG/CIOS

Filed: 201-281313 (Antonio CUESTA)
201-335014 (SAKER)

. 201-821216 (Lourdes. CUESTA)

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CiA LETTERHEAD

Suggested reply to Mra. CUESTA's Letter of 4 August 1975

Mre, Lourdes Cuesta
2155 S.W. Sth Street
Miami, Florida 33135

Dear Mrs. Cuesta:

This is in reply to your letter o: 4 August 1975 aod ©”
subsequent conversations with one of our
representatives,

dn response _teo—your-tnqutyy Sa wish to advise that
your ex-husbands alleged activities, cited ag Attempts No.
21 and 22 in the newspaper article enclose with your letter,
were in no way sponsored by or associated with this Agency.
Concerning prior knowledge of such activities, we can only
way that anticipated activities of some of the independent
- exile groups often became public knowladge because of
discussion within the exile community of such activities.

’ Sincerely,

Assistant to the Director

“Pate tee
om

